groder

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Inspiration

After interacting with various food and grocery delivery apps, we realized the inflationary prices for specific goods and the underlying service and delivery fees that lead to price markups. Delivery expenses add up; from small, annoying service fees on household items to inflated prices due to huge markups. Delivery systems like Uber eats and InstaCart exacerbate the problem, crowding the market with too many platforms that compete to squeeze profit dollars using a large infrastructure and similar network. We wanted to create a system that could both benefit both the consumer and the producer and came up with groder, an app that brings neighbors together by the means of commerce in a feasible manner.

What it does

groder itself has functionalities that enable a consumer to search for a desired store or location and see what shoppers are currently at the store or when they are planning to be at the store along with their distance away from the consumer. On the shoppers end, the shopper could ideally post a notification to his/her network and make create a shopping group. The home page directs to a general network of shoppers or groders that are near to you. From there you can sort by location or by name and see the details of the shopper such as their score/rating and previous trips (date, time, location etc.). The consumer can then join the shoppers group and add items to buy along with the price range they are willing to pay.

How we built it

We created the login and authentication infrastructure using Firebase and coded the entire app in Flutter using Dart. We prototyped and templated all the screens in Figma before we started coding. We also implemented a sorting search algorithm to filter/prioritize shoppers based on nearest location to the consumer or user.

Challenges we ran into

An initial challenge included coming up with an idea that we deemed worth investing time in. After we came up with groder, the main obstacles we ran into was familiarity with all of the technologies used. The login infrastructure experienced a few bugs but eventually panned out and became a fully fledged login system. Coding the app itself was pretty challenging albeit fun to collaborate with other team members and create a functioning MVP.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We were proud that we were able to create a working prototype and appealing UI/UX design of the app. Also our searching algorithm was custom made and it was really cool to see its implementation in a project such as this. Lastly, we were happy to get the Firebase infrastructure working as we could host the login and authentication systems on cloud.

What we learned

We learned that it's necessary to plan out and design an application before jumping straight into the code. Also, all of us learned the importance of project management techniques, whether it be delegating tasks and dividing components of the app between us.

What's next for groder

From a technical standpoint, we hope to find and connect to an API that can get price and item data to optimize search methods for consumers. Also, we would love to create a post notification system using FCM(firebase cloud messaging). At a high level, we believe groder fills the gap between delivery and community, presenting a unique opportunity to fuse the two, creating a platform that enables customers to get their goods and potentially form lasting relationships with their deliverers.